My Friend The Scale

One of the most difficult things about our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park a week and a half ago was that I was not able to weigh in for two days.  I really didn't know when I started this journey if I would enjoy weighing myself daily.  I thought it might be a little overkill.  But, I have found that I look forward to these weigh-ins.  And, again, they are part of this whole ritual of accountibility.  It really does affect my behavior when I know that I am going to have to own up to an increase in pounds.

I thought I might be past all of this.  I even thought that I no longer needed the accountibility factor of this blog.  But, I think not being able to weigh in on Saturday and Sunday was a small contributor to my lack of focus.  It is easy to let yourself think that you are doing good even when you are not.  And, much easier when you don't have your trusty friend to remind you.

I go back to what I said a couple of months ago.  I need that constant reminder.  I need to know right away when my body has registered an even minor blip upwards because then I can make a quick reaction.  If I weighed weekly, despite knowing how this whole Eat Less Move More process works, I still think I might let a day turn in to a couple of days and eventually even a week. 

I hated not having a scale with me.  I hated not knowing if I had indeed lost some weight from the hike only to gain it back after a brutal Sunday.  In addition to the chance to react, weighing daily allows me to mentally track what works and what doesn't.

This Sunday is August 1, my official weigh-in day.  Unfortunately, I will be out of town again and unable to weigh myself on the biggest day of the month...  well, second biggest since I have my only non-first-day-of-the-month weigh-in scheduled for my birthday on August 16.  I really hate missing this weigh-in.  Even worse, I really hate pushing it back to Monday because Mondays have been notoriously worse than the other days because of the much more difficult task of staying focused over the weekends.  But, Monday it is.  That give me one extra day to get to 232.  Please don't turn me in to the obesity police for skipping the August 1 weigh-in.

This has been a good stretch for me since returning from RMNP.  I have lost 7.6 pounds in nine days.  I have finally gotten past a two week period where I felt like a hamster on one of those round wheels that keeps pedaling his heart out but never gets anywhere!  Again, this mini-struggle within my struggle was all due to my choices... no surprises there.  But, it was nice to have my friend the scale remind me to get busy after we got back from the trip.  The scale is brutally honest.  It doesn't tell me that it's okay to have a bad weekend.  It doesn't tell me that I deserve it.  It simplys states the facts and it is brutally honest.  It tells me that I gained 4 pounds in bright green LED numbers!  And, even though we don't always listen, it practically begs us to stay focused and make better choices.  Here's to one of my best friends... my scale...